Thursday, November 7, 2013

Public education is undergoing a radical change.
What was predominately a local school governed by a locally
elected school board is poised to become a plethora of
choices: private religious schools, independent privately
operated charter schools, voucher schools, for-profit schools,
virtual schools, and public schools.

All paid for with tax dollars.

State officials recently announced enrollment information
related to statewide private school vouchers. Lawmakers who
supported the state budget voted to expand the payment for
private schools with public money, known as voucher schools. The
information released shows four out of five students who
received public money for private tuition were already enrolled
in a private school.

Data on the performance of these alternatives to public
schools is inconclusive, poor or not available.

According to the recently released 2012-13 report cards for
virtual charter schools, half of virtual school students were
receiving their education from a school that did not meet
expectations. Virtual charter schools are on-line schools paid
for with public money.
Twenty years of experience with private vouchers in Milwaukee
shows no major differences in the performance of private voucher
students with public school students. The Legislative Audit
Bureau in 2011 reviewed the final of five years of study to
conclude students in Milwaukee who attend private schools with
vouchers show few differences on standardized tests than their
cohorts in public schools.

The 25 private schools in the new statewide voucher expansion
received state money – over $7,000 per student – but are not
required to conduct standardized state required testing for
several years. Several of my Senate colleagues and I urged
accountability for private schools similar to that of public
schools but so far this hasn’t happened. Instead lawmakers are
heading in the opposite direction

Efforts in the Senate Education Committee would expand
another type of choice: a charter school that could be
operated by a private out-of-state company; again paid for with
public money.

This legislation -Senate Bill 76 - would allow charter
schools to expand even if the school board that authorized
them did not want the expansion.

All this change in public education has many people confused.
Most of Wisconsin hasn’t seen the use of taxpayer money for
private education. Many public schools have cut back to the
bones. Parents, school board members and superintendents are
asking me, “Why fund these unaccountable, private schools at the
cost to our public schools?”

Data released by state education officials report almost half
of public school districts will see further cuts in state money.
The deepest cuts – limited to 15% by law- will go to 64 mostly
rural schools. After the 15% cuts are taken out, schools then
must pay their share of the independent charter schools in the
Milwaukee area. Local school boards tell me this is simply not
fair.

The push away from funding local public schools is part of a
national effort to privatize public education. This effort is
detailed in a new book by Diane Ravitch. She was appointed to
public education positions by both President George H.W. Bush
and President Clinton and is critical of both President George
W. Bush and President Obama.

Ravitch describes efforts to transform education into “an
entrepreneurial sector of the economy”. These efforts are
“funded to a large degree by major foundations, Wall Street
hedge fund managers, entrepreneurs and the U.S. Department of
Education.”

She describes this movement to “eliminate the geographical
based system of public education as we have known it for the
past 150 years and replace it with a competitive market- based
system of school choice – one that includes traditional public
schools, privately managed charter schools, religious schools,
voucher schools, for-profit schools, virtual schools and
for-profit vendors of instruction.”

Few of the details Ravitch mentions are part of public
discussions among policy-makers. Yet observing the action of the
Legislature, the influence of those who seek education
transformation is undeniable.

Wisconsin must wake up to the forces behind changes in
schools. Once folks know details, I suspect few would support
education funds to unaccountable schools created as investment
opportunities.

Agree, but think this message is to long. She has get this down to about a thirty second sound bite that will convince the uninformed. Like this: "Supporters of public education are just afraid to have competition."

3:08, you sure could learn more about the English language. The idea of universal education to all is valid. There is nothing wrong with a sound education from your local public school. There is no reason why people paying taxes for public services should pay for private education. There is also no reason why tax money should be directed to private educators, starving needed funding for public schools to succeed. You want private--you pay for it on your own.

That was my thought NQ, but Baggers are so clueless and lame that I couldn't be sure.

Because the last thing vouchers want is true choice, because then they'd have to take every student (including the one with special needs), and have to deal with the same oversight and accountability that public schools do.

Props to Sen. Vinehout for calling attention to these scam artists running vouchers. Now get in the guv's race, Kathleen.

Hi Jake, I posted at 3:08. My example is one that is repeated often on conservative talk radio. I'm confident that it could easily be a republican response to Senator Vinehout's excellent article, and fit nicely in a fair and balanced one minute TV news spot, where each side will be aired for only 5 or 10 seconds of the report.

Or throw their own words back at them: Private schools are afraid of real competition and true accountability. That's why school voucher proponents have bought so many politicians: to rig the game. They want to profit from taxpayer money at our kids' expense.

How about "Twenty years of experience with private vouchers in Milwaukee shows no major differences in the performance of private voucher students with public school students"?

Or, “Why fund these unaccountable, private schools at the cost to our public schools?”

Or, "[Don't] support education funds to unaccountable schools!"

All lifted from the essay above. One of the things I really like about Kathleen Vinehout is her ability to boil down complex issues into a few simple, clearly expressed ideas. The bullet points in her essays practically jump out at you; turning those into campaign slogans or stump speeches or fundraising letters shouldn't be a problem at all, and her plain reasoning on open display is very appealing.

The only way we will stop this move is to open Wiccan and Muslim charter schools and have them accepting public money, then when the Right tries to prevent them from taking money from public coffers as the Christian and Jewish schools do, lawsuits can be filed.